Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said charges that its Ministry of State Security had sanctioned contract hackers to conduct cyber operations around the world were "unwarranted" and a "political smear."
The allegations put forward by the U.S. and its allies—including NATO, the European Union, Five Eyes and Japan—lacked evidence, he told reporters at a daily press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
Read more at
China Accuses CIA of Hacking Beijing for Over a Decade
Showing posts with label Hacking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hacking. Show all posts
7/21/21
4/15/21
Russian-US Relations: US expels Russian diplomats, imposes sanctions for hacking
The Biden administration announced Thursday the U.S. is expelling 10 Russian diplomats and imposing sanctions against dozens of companies and other people, holding the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year’s presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies.
The sweeping measures are meant to punish Russia for actions that U.S. officials say cut to the core of American democracy and to deter future acts by imposing economic costs on Moscow, including by targeting its ability to borrow money. The sanctions are certain to exacerbate tensions with Russia, which promised a response, even as President Joe Biden said the administration could have taken even more punitive measures but chose
Read more at: US expels Russian diplomats, imposes sanctions for hacking
The sweeping measures are meant to punish Russia for actions that U.S. officials say cut to the core of American democracy and to deter future acts by imposing economic costs on Moscow, including by targeting its ability to borrow money. The sanctions are certain to exacerbate tensions with Russia, which promised a response, even as President Joe Biden said the administration could have taken even more punitive measures but chose
Read more at: US expels Russian diplomats, imposes sanctions for hacking
2/20/19
EU: Russia - Hackers: Russian hackers targeted US think tanks in Europe
A hacking group that is thought to be linked to Russian military
intelligence targeted the European offices of two American think tanks,
Microsoft revealed late Tuesday.
Fancy Bear, the same hacking group that is believed to be behind some of the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee,
targeted The Aspen Institute and The German Marshall Fund of the United
States, Microsoft said. The German Council on Foreign Relations was
also targeted.
"We've seen and continue to see efforts by nation-states and others to influence elections in democracies around the world including in Europe," Tom Burt, Microsoft's vice president of customer trust and security, said in a blog post.
Read more: Russian hackers targeted US think tanks in Europe
"We've seen and continue to see efforts by nation-states and others to influence elections in democracies around the world including in Europe," Tom Burt, Microsoft's vice president of customer trust and security, said in a blog post.
Read more: Russian hackers targeted US think tanks in Europe
7/13/18
USA: Russian Intel officers indicted for Clinton hack
Via euronews: US indicts Russian intel officers for Clinton hack
Read full report at:
3/7/17
Privacy Issues: CIA hacks TVs, phones all over the world, Wikileaks claims
To hide its operations, the CIA routinely adopted hacking techniques that enabled them to appear as if they were hackers in Russia, WikiLeaks said.
WikiLeaks also claimed that nearly all of the CIA's arsenal of privacy-crushing cyberweapons have been stolen, and the tools are potentially in the hands of criminals and foreign spies.
WikiLeaks claimed the stolen tools ended up in the hands of "former U.S. government hackers and contractors... one of whom" leaked documents to WikiLeaks.
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California called for an immediate congressional investigation.
"I am deeply disturbed by the allegation that the CIA lost its arsenal of hacking tools. The ramifications could be devastating," he said in a statement. ""We need to know if the CIA lost control of its hacking tools, who may have those tools, and how do we now protect the privacy of Americans."
"The potential privacy concerns are mind-boggling," he said.
WikiLeaks said it published the documents to show the potentially hazardous ramifications of the CIA's covert hacking program -- and the massive theft of those tools.
"There is an extreme proliferation risk in the development of cyber 'weapons,'" said WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange in a statement.
WikiLeaks, an outfit that believes in transparency, backed up the claims by publishing a massive trove of what it says are secret CIA documents. It calls the collection "Year Zero," and it consists of 8,761 documents and files.
The CIA, citing standing policy, declined to say whether the published documents are genuine.
"We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents," said CIA spokeswoman Heather Fritz Horniak.
Read more: CIA hacks TVs, phones all over the world, Wikileaks claims - Mar. 7, 2017
2/6/17
Norway - Hacking: Norwegian Labour hacked by foreign group
The Norwegian Labour party's parliamentarian group has confirmed it was subjected to an attempted digital attack last autumn, which the Norwegian Police Security Service tied to 'foreign intelligence'. According to a report in Norwegian daily Dagbladet
it was the same group that hacked the US Democrats that carried out the
attack. It's not yet known whether the attack was successful, ahead of
Norway's general elections in September.
Read more: Norwegian Labour hacked by foreign group
Read more: Norwegian Labour hacked by foreign group
2/2/17
Netherlands General Election: The Netherlands will count every vote by hand to stop hackers influencing parliamentary election - Chloe Farand
The Dutch government has decided to hand count all ballots in its next election and to ditch its “vulnerable” counting software to prevent potential hackers from influencing the outcome.
The decision was taken amidst fears that hackers could influence next month’s elections after allegations by the US intelligence agency that Russia hacked into Democrats’ emails to help Donald Trump get elected. Russia denies any wrongdoing.
Intelligence agencies have warned that three crucial elections in Europe this year in the Netherlands, France and Germany could be vulnerable to manipulation by outside actors.
Read more: The Netherlands will count every vote by hand to stop hackers influencing parliamentary election | The Independent
The decision was taken amidst fears that hackers could influence next month’s elections after allegations by the US intelligence agency that Russia hacked into Democrats’ emails to help Donald Trump get elected. Russia denies any wrongdoing.
Intelligence agencies have warned that three crucial elections in Europe this year in the Netherlands, France and Germany could be vulnerable to manipulation by outside actors.
Read more: The Netherlands will count every vote by hand to stop hackers influencing parliamentary election | The Independent
8/9/14
E-Mail Fraud: Russian hackers allegedly have millions of email logins - by Robert Faturechi
A Russian hacking ring has secured a massive trove of stolen personal
data, including login information for more than 500 million email
addresses, security researchers told the New York Times.
According to the report, the records proving the breaches were discovered by Milwaukee-based Hold Security.
The company would not name the victims, but the newspaper got a security expert to confirm the authenticity of the stolen information.
According to the report, the alleged hackers are making money off the stolen data mainly by being commissioned by other groups to use the data to send spam messages.
The theft of so many logins and passwords, however, is particularly dangerous because people often use the passwords they use for their email logins on a number of other sites.
According to Hold Security’s assessment, the hacking ring is composed of several young men who work as a team.
“There is a division of labor within the gang,” Holden was quoted saying. “Some are writing the programming, some are stealing the data. It’s like you would imagine a small company; everyone is trying to make a living.”
Hold Security says it has begun notifying companies that have been affected.
Read more: Russian hackers allegedly have millions of email logins - LA Times
According to the report, the records proving the breaches were discovered by Milwaukee-based Hold Security.
The company would not name the victims, but the newspaper got a security expert to confirm the authenticity of the stolen information.
According to the report, the alleged hackers are making money off the stolen data mainly by being commissioned by other groups to use the data to send spam messages.
The theft of so many logins and passwords, however, is particularly dangerous because people often use the passwords they use for their email logins on a number of other sites.
According to Hold Security’s assessment, the hacking ring is composed of several young men who work as a team.
“There is a division of labor within the gang,” Holden was quoted saying. “Some are writing the programming, some are stealing the data. It’s like you would imagine a small company; everyone is trying to make a living.”
Hold Security says it has begun notifying companies that have been affected.
Read more: Russian hackers allegedly have millions of email logins - LA Times
1/1/14
Smartphone APPS: Snapchat hacked, info on 4.6 million users reportedly leaked - by James Eng
Someone claiming to be behind the reported leak of private account information on millions of Snapchat users says the goal was to raise public awareness about online security holes in the popular photo-sharing app.
A website called SnapchatDB.info went online on New Year’s Eve, offering for download what it said was a database containing the usernames and phone numbers of 4.6 million Snapchat accounts. (The last two digits of the phone numbers were blacked out.)
“This database contains username and phone number pairs of a vast majority of the Snapchat users. This information was acquired through the recently patched Snapchat exploit and is being shared with the public to raise awareness on the issue,” the site said.
“The company was too reluctant at patching the exploit until they knew it was too late and companies that we trust with our information should be more careful when dealing with it.”
By Wednesday morning, the site was taken down, but not before several visitors said they managed to download the database.
In a follow-up statement Wednesday to several tech media sites, including The Verge and TechCrunch, SnapchatDB said:
Read more: Snapchat hacked, info on 4.6 million users reportedly leaked - NBC News.com
A website called SnapchatDB.info went online on New Year’s Eve, offering for download what it said was a database containing the usernames and phone numbers of 4.6 million Snapchat accounts. (The last two digits of the phone numbers were blacked out.)
“This database contains username and phone number pairs of a vast majority of the Snapchat users. This information was acquired through the recently patched Snapchat exploit and is being shared with the public to raise awareness on the issue,” the site said.
“The company was too reluctant at patching the exploit until they knew it was too late and companies that we trust with our information should be more careful when dealing with it.”
By Wednesday morning, the site was taken down, but not before several visitors said they managed to download the database.
In a follow-up statement Wednesday to several tech media sites, including The Verge and TechCrunch, SnapchatDB said:
“Our motivation behind the release was to raise the public awareness around the issue, and also put public pressure on Snapchat to get this exploit fixed. It is understandable that tech startups have limited resources but security and privacy should not be a secondary goal. Security matters as much as user experience does.”TechCrunch said one of its readers found his own number, as well as the number of Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel, on the leaked list.
Read more: Snapchat hacked, info on 4.6 million users reportedly leaked - NBC News.com
4/3/13
Internet - passwords: Cracking up: why 'password1' won't keep you safe online from cyber criminals and hackers
If you think a jumble of letters and numbers can keep you safe online, think again. The password as protector against internet intrusion is all but dead, fatally crippled by human fallibility and the forces of crime, malice and mischief arraigned against it.
Since Bill Gates warned in 2004 that passwords were nearing the limits of their utility, the idea that even ''strong'' passwords can ward off cyber marauders has been exposed as delusion. Millions of customers of big web brands such as Sony PlayStation, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, Gawker, Evernote and eHarmony have had their login details stolen or posted online.
''We have pretty well established that passwords don't really work,'' says Graham Ingram, who manages the University of Queensland's Australian Computer Emergency Response Team. ''The problem is we don't have a viable alternative. You are not protected and frankly you can't protect yourself.'' Hack methods have become so sophisticated that ''for most people it is a matter of time before they get done''.
Free online software tools that use algorithmic search programs to automate password cracking are so accessible, effective and quick that ''any idiot can do it'', wrote Wired senior writer and hack attack victim Mat Honan.
Using the same password for several accounts is the biggest mistake but most people make it, Mr Dyson says. In time passwords will become just one of several account locks. Increasingly, organisations such as eBay and Amazon and banks require two-step verification, where you enter a code sent to your mobile or a pre-issued security token to complete the login.
Read more: Cracking up: why 'password1' won't keep you safe online from cyber criminals and hackers
Since Bill Gates warned in 2004 that passwords were nearing the limits of their utility, the idea that even ''strong'' passwords can ward off cyber marauders has been exposed as delusion. Millions of customers of big web brands such as Sony PlayStation, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, Gawker, Evernote and eHarmony have had their login details stolen or posted online.
''We have pretty well established that passwords don't really work,'' says Graham Ingram, who manages the University of Queensland's Australian Computer Emergency Response Team. ''The problem is we don't have a viable alternative. You are not protected and frankly you can't protect yourself.'' Hack methods have become so sophisticated that ''for most people it is a matter of time before they get done''.
Free online software tools that use algorithmic search programs to automate password cracking are so accessible, effective and quick that ''any idiot can do it'', wrote Wired senior writer and hack attack victim Mat Honan.
Using the same password for several accounts is the biggest mistake but most people make it, Mr Dyson says. In time passwords will become just one of several account locks. Increasingly, organisations such as eBay and Amazon and banks require two-step verification, where you enter a code sent to your mobile or a pre-issued security token to complete the login.
Read more: Cracking up: why 'password1' won't keep you safe online from cyber criminals and hackers
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